Harper Perennial
ISBN: 978-0061988356
Published April 24, 2012
Paperback, 432 pages
As I turned the last page, I felt a
certain sadness, ending what I felt was an amazing journey into the
past with a group of survivors in the once unknown world of a
lost civilization deep in the wild jungles of New Guinea. This book
fascinated and enthralled me. It made me cry, laugh, cringe, and
wonder. Without a doubt this is one of the best books I've read in
2012! I read parts of it in the car as my hubby drove and would
recount what I was reading to him. Throughout the following days he
kept asking, “So what's happening with the survivors now?”
Zuckoff has managed the feat of putting
together the true story of how, in May of 1945, three people (two men
and one woman all serving in the US Army) survived and were rescued
from a plane crash in the middle of an impenetrable jungle in what
was then uncharted territory populated by treacherous mountains that
opened up to a never-before-seen valley scattered with the villages
of cannibal tribesmen. Zuckoff is a master writer, capturing and
recounting the day-to-day unfolding of the tragedy that turned into
an adventure so that as a reader I felt I was living it with them.
Using the diary entries of Corporal
Margaret Hastings (one of the survivors), the eyewitness accounts of the leader of the
paratroopers that was sent in to rescue them and even the people of
the tribes who remembered the day the white people fell from the sky,
we are swept away into the world of WWII, Army outposts in foreign
and dangerous but exotic lands, and the harrowing experience of three
survivors with life-threatening burns and wounds who meet for the
first time in history a lost people.
Although non-fiction, the narrative is
suspenseful, riveting and touching. Zuckoff does not use
sensationalism, and we get an honest portrayal as seen through the
eyes of the survivors, rescuers and tribespeople. Zuckoff also gives
background information of the various men and women, making this very
much a story about ordinary, yet extraordinary men and women.
Zuckoff's research is impeccable with
over 40 end pages of notes on sources and methods. The book also
includes letters and emails from the families of those directly
involved with this story who read this book and felt compelled to
write to the author. By the end of the book, I felt I knew the cast
of people who had been a part of this amazing and almost unbelievable
story. This one is a keeper on my bookshelf and one that I will
re-read again. Highly recommended to all who love stories of survival
and the wonders of lost civilizations.
Note: This book is rated P = profanity, for a few religious expletives.
Mitchell Zuckoff is a professor of journalism at Boston University and a former special projects reporter for the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting. His honors include the 2000 Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Christopher Award for his book Chosing Naia: A Family’s Journey, which was a Boston Globebestseller. His magazine work has appeared in The New Yorker, Fortune, and other national and regional publications.
Learn more about the book and this author by visiting www.mitchellzuckoff.com.
Reviewed by Laura
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